Saturday, June 9, 2007

The best-known toymaker in France is seeking to counter the spread of video games by encouraging boys to play with dolls. Corolle has launched a campaign to persuade les filles to return to a product that they are abandoning and les garçons to join them. The company says that it hopes to prepare toddlers for an adult life as New Men — caring, sharing and looking after babies. Mathilde Gailly, marketing director at Corolle, said:“Today fathers spend a lot of time taking care of their babies, so there is no reason why boys should not start with dolls. “We have a lot of dolls dressed in pink. Why not some dressed in blue?” Mrs Gailly said that boys were happy to play with baby dolls, although not with Barbie-style toys. “They like giving bottles and changing nappies but not brushing hair and doing make-up.” Although dolls have been in existence for the more than 4,000 years, the company says that the modern child, female and male, needs help in understanding them. So it is setting up workshops in Paris this autumn where two nursery nurses, a man and a woman, will offer advice on how to feed, clothe and bathe them.

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports. The man emulated Star Trek's Mr Spock - the Enterprise's science officer who supposedly had green Vulcan blood. In this case, the unusual colour of the 42-year-old's blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking. The man's leg surgery went ahead successfully and his blood returned to normal once he had eased off the drug. The patient had been taking large doses of sumatriptan - 200 milligrams a day. This had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells.

A deer which survived nine weeks with a metal bird feeder trapped in her mouth has had the object removed.The wild deer, which has been named Mary, had still been managing to feed every night in Peter Sluggett's garden in Plymouth.RSPCA officers managed to catch the deer on Wednesday night and were able to remove the feeder."She has become just like one of the family, we love her to bits. I can't thank them enough," said Mr Sluggett.

'Likes her food'"It's clear the bird feeder had managed to get over the top of the lip and the teeth," said Neil Thomas from the RSPCA.

The deer only suffered a small bite to her tongueThe officers prepared a trap for the deer in Mr Sluggett's garden so they could catch her and remove the feeder.She was not badly injured and was treated for a small bite to the tongue before being released."We have grown so used to her, we feed her every night and she really likes her food. "It's just fantastic," said Mr Sluggett.